Officers remember friendly fire death

40 years later: Police gather at cemetery to honor cop lost on 'a very difficult day'

John Nickerson

Published 9:43 pm, Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Stamford police Captains Greg Tomlin, left, and Bill Mullin, right, place a wreath at the grave of William McNamara at St. John's Cemetery in Darien, Conn., on Wednesday, December 18, 2013. McNamara was a police officer who was shot and killed during a liquor store holdup 40 years ago.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Stamford police Captains Greg Tomlin, left, and Bill Mullin, right, place a wreath at the grave of William McNamara at St. John's Cemetery in Darien, Conn., on Wednesday, December 18, 2013. McNamara was a police officer who was shot and killed during a liquor store holdup 40 years ago.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Stamford police Captains Greg Tomlin, left, and Bill Mullin, right, place a wreath at the grave of William McNamara at St. John's Cemetery in Darien, Conn., on Wednesday, December 18, 2013. McNamara was a police officer who was shot and killed during a liquor store holdup 40 years ago.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Stamford police Captains Greg Tomlin, left, and Bill Mullin, right, place a wreath at the grave of William McNamara at St. John's Cemetery in Darien, Conn., on Wednesday, December 18, 2013. McNamara was a police officer who was shot and killed during a liquor store holdup 40 years ago.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Several Stamford police officers quietly met at St. John's Catholic Cemetery in Darien at 1 p.m. Wednesday to observe the 40th anniversary of patrolman William McNamara's death after mistakenly being shot and killed by another officer as the two were taking an armed robber into custody.

"It was a difficult, it was a very difficult day," Capt. Thomas Lombardo remembered after helping to place a wreath at McNamara's grave.

Lombardo, who had just been hired in August 1973 added, "The loss of a brother officer is something you just don't expect. You hope it never happens. You clearly hope it never happens again. We have lost four people in the course of our history in the department. Two from motorcycle accidents and one from another armed robbery."

Only seven officers that worked with McNamara are still on the job.

They were joined by a few newer officers for their unofficial, every-five-year commemoration of the occasion.

"The town should know," about McNamara, Lombardo said before leaving the cemetery.

Standing in the bright sunlight of St. John Cemetery as cold breezes buffeted his dark blue uniform, Capt. Gregory Tomlin remembered that around 3 p.m. Dec. 18, 1973, he was headed into work and pulled into what was then the Hazelton Hotel, now the site of the Stamford Government Center.

A man had just robbed the Tower Liquor Store on Washington Boulevard and had reportedly walked over to the Hazelton Hotel. McNamara, who had turned 31 the day before, and his partner for that Tuesday, Walter Young, were sent to find him.

Young was first through the hotel door, with McNamara following, official reports of the shooting say. Young walked into the lobby and saw the man, later identified as John Orawsky, 27, with a gun in his hand.

What Young did not know was that after following him through the front door of the hotel, McNamara, a four-year officer at the time with a wife six months pregnant, turned into a hallway and walked through another room in order to come at the robber from a different angle.

Suddenly, Orawsky pointed his gun at Young, and the patrolman shot Orawsky in the arm and he fell to the ground.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw an arm and a gun, and thinking that Orawsky had an accomplice, he turned and fired, striking McNamara in the chest.

Tomlin, who had been on the job for two years at the time, was the third police officer through the Hazelton Hotel door that day. But by that time, McNamara had already been shot, he said.

"It's a long time ago, 40 years. But I remember it every year, especially this time of year," said Tomlin, who now heads up the city's 911 center. "It was very painful for the members of the Police Department. It was right around Christmas time, and it is one of those things you remember. Now that I work at the government center, I think about it even more."

At the time, McNamara's usual partner was Pat Mooney, who is now an inspector at the Stamford State's Attorney's office.

In his office in the Stamford courthouse Wednesday afternoon, Mooney remembered McNamara was late that day and Mooney ended up riding with another patrolman.

Mooney, who had two years with the department at the time, was at police headquarters. When they heard a police officer had been shot, everybody charged down to the Hazelton.

He saw two officers carrying a man on a stretcher, but he didn't know who it was until he saw Young. After he got inside, Young told him, "I think I shot Mac accidentally."

"He was always kind and professional. A good guy. He was a jolly, happy-go-lucky guy," Mooney said. "I've missed him since he has been gone. Occasionally, I go to the cemetery."

Investigations Bureau Sgt. Paul Guzda also remembered McNamara. Even though he had only been on the force a few months at the time, Guzda had been assigned a detail with McNamara in November 1973 guarding voting machines prior to a mayoral recount.

"I found him to be a pleasant, intelligent man who was willing to listen to my questions and offer some guidance," he said.

"After we heard the news, we were shell-shocked. I just remember this empty feeling, and everybody in the department was walking around in a daze," Guzda said.